<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Feeling Sparks by PipTheMagnificent</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25531042">Feeling Sparks</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PipTheMagnificent/pseuds/PipTheMagnificent'>PipTheMagnificent</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Zutara Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Flirting, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Humor, Post-Canon, Zuko doesn't know how to act normal, Zutara Week 2020, but we love that for him - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:22:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,508</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25531042</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PipTheMagnificent/pseuds/PipTheMagnificent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko was struck by lightning almost a week ago- so why is he still feeling sparks around Katara? </p><p>Feat. Uncle Iroh x tea, Zuko cheating at games, useless (?) romance books, and turtleducks. Of course, all with a heaping side of awkward teen romance.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Zutara Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849897</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>71</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Feeling Sparks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Well, here we go! Zutara Week 2020 babyyyy! Prompt: Reunion</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He dreams in blues. In his mind, he’s drowning in the deep blue of the icy waters under the North Pole. Struck by shockingly blue bolts of lighting on top of a mountain. Burning in the bright blue flames of his sister’s fire. </p><p>But those blues always give way to a calming rush, like a wave creeping up to the shore. The nightmares fade, and he sees a blue clad girl running ahead of him, laughing. He runs after her, getting just close enough to grab her dress before she disappears into the distance. </p><p>When his eyes open, he almost expects to see blue still, but instead, he’s greeted with red. His head is throbbing, but he recognizes the drapes above his bed, all red silk and expensive gold leaf. </p><p>He tries to maneuver himself to sit up on his elbows, but he falls back before he can rise, groaning at the sharp pain in his chest. </p><p>“Zuko!” Someone leans over him, a blur of blue. It’s Katara. “Are you alright? Have you been awake long? I just woke up, I’m so sorry. Does your chest hurt? Do you want tea? I’ll go get the others!” </p><p>“Katara,” he manages to force out through dry lips. </p><p>“Yes?” She hovers over him anxiously. </p><p>“Can you just help me sit up? Wait for the others.” </p><p>She blushes, embarrassed. “Yeah, sorry. That would be overwhelming. I- didn’t think.” Placing a hand under his back, she stacks pillows behind him so he’s sitting at a slight angle. Perfect angle so his chest doesn’t hurt, but he can see past the bed. </p><p>“What happened?” </p><p>She pauses while she pours him a glass of water. “You don’t remember?” </p><p>“I know I fought Azula, and she struck me with lightning. And I remember you healing me. And vaguely a dinner or something? But other than that, no.”</p><p>She hands him the cup, then sits on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle him. “You woke up after I healed you, and you seemed fine for a few hours, but when you went to sleep that night, you started running a fever, and got really sick. I’ve been trying my best, and so have the other physicians, but-” She swipes at her eyes. “We weren’t sure if you were going to make it.” </p><p>Zuko cringes internally. He never knows what to do around crying girls. Crying anyone, really. He tries to lift an arm to pat her back, and though it hurts, he can lift it. He goes to pat her, and at his light touch, she starts crying harder. <em>Agni, </em>Zuko thinks. <em>Why am I so bad at being comforting?</em></p><p>Zuko is just about to stretch over and call for a maid with the bell when Uncle Iroh rushes in. </p><p>“Zuko!” He stops when he sees Katara crying, and then stoops next to her, whispering soothing words into her ear before giving her a gentle push towards the door. She goes willingly, and Iroh takes her place on the bed. “How are you feeling, nephew?”</p><p>“I’d feel better if I hadn’t made her cry,” he bemoans.</p><p>Iroh hums. “It was not your fault, Prince Zuko. She has been under a lot of stress. She feels quite guilty.”</p><p>Zuko scoffs. “That’s stupid. What does she have to feel guilty about?” </p><p>“Katara believes you only got hurt because of her, and that she didn’t heal you well enough immediately after the fight.”</p><p>“But I chose to jump in front of her! I should have known Azula would cheat. And she was exhausted from battling, she did her best. I probably would have died without her!” </p><p>“I know that, nephew. But does she?” Uncle Iroh looks at him with piercing eyes, and Zuko feels like squirming back into his bedsheets. “She hasn’t left your side once, you know.” And with that, he rises to call in the royal physician, leaving Zuko to think over what he said. </p><p>Think is all he does, for a while, as his friends are forbidden from seeing him until he’s been checked out by the doctors, and Katara hasn't reappeared in his room at all for the rest of the day. He had hoped she would, so he could make her see that none of this is her fault, but she was scared off by the thought of a Zuko who’s actually conscious. </p><p>It’s not until breakfast the next day that he sees her again. She slips in carrying a tray of food, and when she realizes he’s awake, and watching her, she freezes, looking like she wants to leave. “Hello.” She sets the tray down on the side table. </p><p>“Hi,” she says. “Listen, Zuko- I just wanted to say I’m sorry. It was my fault that you got hit, and I should have done a better job healing-“ </p><p>“Stop,” he says irritably. He knows he sounds mean, but he’s annoyed that she really thinks this. “Katara, I chose to jump in front of you. And you were exhausted from battling Azula!” </p><p>“But-“ </p><p>“No. I’m serious. Stop blaming yourself.” He gestures for himself. “Look at me! I’m in peak condition now, thanks to you.” </p><p>“You’re stuck in a bed,” she says dryly. </p><p>“Stuck <em>alive </em>in a bed,” he points out, and she laughs. </p><p>“Thanks Zuko,” she says, and leans over to grab him in a careful hug. “I’m glad you’ve been reunited with us land of the living people. I hate to say it but-“ she looks around carefully, then whispers “I might have missed you.” </p><p>“No!” Zuko gasps dramatically. </p><p>“Yes!” She hisses. “Who else could I bully around?” </p><p>“Well would you look at that, I am good for something after all. Take that, Father.” He flips off the ceiling. It feels good to be joking around again. And he thinks his mom would have approved of his dramatic acting skills. She did like it when they would watch <em>Love Amongst the Dragons. </em></p><p>Katara cracks up, doubling over. When she leaves, his food is cold, but he feels much better about making her cry yesterday. </p><p>…</p><p>“Tui and La, Zuko, you’re such a cheat!” Katara throws her hands in the air, frustrated. </p><p>“Say what you will,” he says, “But I won fair and square. You just suck at Empire-opoly.” Shaking his head, he reaches over to grab his glass of water, only grimacing a little at the tug on his chest. As he leans over, a few slips of colored paper slip out of his sleeve. </p><p>Katara snatches them up, crowing. “I knew it! You were robbing the bank!”</p><p>Sokka snorts from his spot on the floor. “Nice job, buddy.” He lost almost immediately, but he doesn’t look mad, especially since Suki soon joined him in the loser’s circle. She’s currently draped over him, braiding a small section of hair. </p><p>“Hey, you could have cheated too, Sugar Queen,” Toph pipes up, rolling her eyes. “It’s really your fault for being too prissy to rob the bank. Zuko still wins.” </p><p>Katara scoffs. “Of course you’d say that. You cheat at everything. You scammed a fortune when we were traveling.” </p><p>Toph cackles. “That’s skill, baby!” </p><p>“That’s illegal,” Katara grumbles, but she stops complaining. </p><p>Zuko's just glad she’s stopped complaining. In the last few days of him recovering and her nursing- well, hovering like an overprotective saber tooth moose lion- he’s learned that once Katara starts complaining, it’s hard to get her to stop. He’s heard about Sokka’s stinky socks, the servants’ habit of trying to bow to her as the ‘Southern Water Tribe Princess’, and how Toph somehow won’t stop badgering her about Jet and Haru. </p><p>For some reason, when he’d been hearing about those last two, he felt a bit bothered. He had asked about who they were, and when she reassured him they weren’t important, he felt relieved for some reason. </p><p>When he’d confessed that to a visiting Sokka, hoping to hear more about these Hair and Jeb guys, Sokka had stared at him suspiciously and told him that if he started getting any ideas about Katara he’d better get used to having Sokka around a lot more. “I’m a great chaperone,” he’d said proudly, “and my little sister’s not going to be doing anything under my watch.” </p><p>Zuko has hurriedly explained that no, he was not interested in Katara, and no, Sokka didn’t have to start sitting in on their healing sessions. </p><p>And it was true. Right? Just because he liked hanging out with Katara, and looked forward to the times she’d come by, and enjoy the healing sessions because although there was pain, she had to touch his bare chest, didn’t mean he was interested in her in a romantic way. Certainly not. And the dreams he’d continued to have of chasing a girl in blue were in no way related to Katara. Of course not. He laughed to himself. He just thought she was really pretty, and he admired her bravery and skills. Nothing romantic about that. </p><p>Actually- Zuko face palms, thinking that over. He definitely has a crush on Katara. And he definitely has no idea what to do about it. </p><p>…</p><p>“Zuuuuuko!” Katara sings as she poked her head around the door. He shot up from his desk and shut his book loudly. </p><p>“Hey,” he says awkwardly, trying to shove the book in his desk one handed behind his back. Giving up, he tucks it in a giant pocket in the folds of his robe. It was something Uncle Iroh had given him when he’d confessed he maybe had a crush on someone. He’d been skeptical when he saw the title: <em>The Clueless Man’s Guide to Romance, </em>and the first chapter wasn’t doing much to change his opinion. </p><p>She looks at him strangely, but thankfully moves on. “Okay, so. Do you know why I’m here?” </p><p>“Rematch of Empire-opoly?” He asks hopefully. </p><p>“No. You cheat too much.” She scowls at him and he regrets his entire existence for reminding her. <em>Is that what his dad felt like? </em>he thinks. “I’m here,” she continues, “because you haven’t left your room in a week.” </p><p>“I’ve been awake for a week,” he says dryly. “And I’ve been a little out of commission.” </p><p>“Pish!” She waves that away. Zuko wonders why he had ever convinced her that she shouldn’t feel guilty. A little guilt tripping would come in handy in times like these. “You’re much better now. And I’m a healer. We’ll just go to the turtle duck pond.” </p><p>“I have documents to sign,” he says, gesturing to the stack of papers on his desk. She doesn’t need to know that it would take him at most five minutes to sign them, as he’d read them all yesterday. Really he just wants to read the book and figure out what to do with his life. And he gets plenty of sun and fresh air from the open shoji doors. </p><p>“Nope, no tricks. I asked all the ministers if there was anything important to do today, and they said no. Also,” she stares him down. “If you have time to cheat at Empire-opoly you have time to go outside.” </p><p>He sighs, but allows her to drag him out of the room and into the garden. The sun is out, and the weather is perfect. Warm, but not hot, and everything is green and blooming. Katara goes to practice her water bending by the other side of the pond, and Zuko is left to read and feed the turtle ducks. </p><p>The longer he reads, the more immersed he gets. Maybe this book isn’t as stupid as it seemed at first. Iroh did always have good luck with women- Zuko shivers, struggling to erase those mental images from his mind. He tosses another piece of bread to the turtleducks and turns back to his book. </p><p><em>Chapter 10</em>, this section reads. <em>Or how to implement these techniques. </em>It’s just a few sentences. <em>You have learned all you can. Now it is time to stop hesitating. Go do the honorable thing. Good luck!</em></p><p>Zuko bonks his head against the tree. Agni, why did he let Uncle convince him this would be a good book to read? Now he has to carry through with these ‘skills’ to defend his honor. Closing the book and hiding it besides him, he girds himself for battle. </p><p>“Katara-” his voice cracks from misuse and he clears his throat. “Katara.” </p><p>She turns around from where she’s been going through waterbending forms. “Yes?”</p><p>Zuko takes a deep breath. “Are you sure you’re not a firebender? Because you’re making my heart blaze.”</p><p>She gapes at him. Zuko tries again. “I meant- are you an earthbender? Because you’re rocking my world.” If anything, her eyes just get wider. “An airbender, I mean. Because you’re taking my breath away.” Katara is just standing there, and Zuko subtly tries to open the book to see what he did wrong. He’s shocked by a ball of water dropping on him. </p><p>He looks up to see Katara standing right over him. “I’m a waterbender, dumbass.” </p><p>“I know that,” he grumbles. She’s missing the point. Oh well, at least this means he can try again some other time. Preferably after he’s gone and beaten Uncle over the head for ever giving him this stupid book. He stands up, ready to retreat. </p><p>“Zuko.” She snatches the book from his pocket. Flipping it over, she reads the title. “Zuko!” Her eyes are sparkling, and he just knows he’s about to be teased to death. “Were you trying to flirt with me?” </p><p>“No!” He shouts. “Nope, not me. Never! I do not. Flirt.” She looks disappointed. He backs up frantically, realizing maybe it’s better to just fess up. “I mean… maybe.”</p><p>“Maybe?” She leans in a little, and he takes a step back, bumping into the tree he was leaning against. </p><p>“Yes,” he says, breathlessly, and she’s there, with her sly blue eyes and clever remarks and brown hair that’s tickling his arm, she’s so close to him. </p><p>“Good,” she says quietly. “Because it means you won’t get mad when I do this.” She reaches up and pulls Zuko down to her, kissing him. Pulling back, she smiles at him, and Zuko’s brain decides to take a short vacation to Ember Island. </p><p>“Buh-” he says, and she laughs. </p><p>“A glowing review. We’ll work on that. There’s time.” </p><p>Zuko’s brain returns, a little sluggish from the beach. “Time?” </p><p>Katara looks a little shy. “I mean, if you want. I was hoping you’d like, wanna date? Or something.” </p><p>“Yes! Yes! Definitely!” Zuko nods frantically. Never mind everything he said before. Uncle is his favorite person in the whole world, and he will personally be writing a thank you note to the author of <em>The Clueless Man’s Guide to Romance. </em></p><p>Katara smiles widely. “Perfect. You know,” she says, “I said the other day that I might have missed you if you didn’t rejoin us in the living world. I lied.” She cups her hands and he ducks his head to hear her whisper. “I definitely would have missed you.” </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I meant for this to be serious but it turned cracky and fluffy on me. (Welp, I have other angsty bits coming up in the following days sooooo…) I’m not quite happy with how this turned out but I left Day 1 until last minute, of course, so I didn’t have a ton of time to move it around and edit. Now let's see if I can finish the rest of the pieces and not chicken out. </p><p>Comments and kudos are appreciated, and I'm on Tumblr <a href="https://pipthemagnificentwrites.tumblr.com/">here.</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>